Sliding door



Sept. 14, 1954 F HELBERT ET AL SLIDING DOOR Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 27, 1951 I/YVENTOKS A TTOR/VEY sept. 14, 1954 Filed Feb. 27, 1951 F. HELBERT ET AL SLIDING DooR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 sept. 14, 1954 F. HELBERT ET Al.

SLIDING DOOR Filed Feb. 27, 1951 N wi rrp/B We? r was E uhm W .Imw o www A V/ E SePt- 14, 1954 F. HELBERT ET AL SLIDING DOOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 27, 1951 Sept. 14, 1954 F. HELBERT ET Al.

SLIDING DOOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 27, 1951 Patented Sept. 14, 1954 SLIDIN G DOOR y Francis Helbert, Boulogne sur Seine, and Henri Jules Peignen, Maisons Alfort, France Application February 27, 1951, Serial No. 212,927"

Claims priority, application France March`7, 1950 UNITED STATES APATENT loI-Flclaz 4 Claims.

l cabinets, and particularly elevator shafts.

It is an object of the invention to provide a sliding door of the above-described type arranged for expansion and retraction over a pair of parallel guide-ways at least in part arcuate, which comprises a plurality of adjacent elements extending `across said guide-Ways generally normally thereto, rotational means between the adjacent elements and guiding or rolling means arranged at, at least, one end of the elements and cooperating with said guide-ways, each element being rotatable by a predetermined angular amount about the said rotational means relatively to the adjacent element, whereby the sliding door may be expanded along an arcuate path and retractedy within a comparatively small space.

A further object is to provide a sliding-door of the type just specified wherein the said elements are panels mounted on supports, the afore-mentioned rotational means between adjacentelements being providedby hinges secured to the said supports and serving both as the connecting means and the pivoting means for the said elements relatively to one another.

It is a yet further object of the invention to provide such a sliding door wherein safety means are provided between the adjacent elements for avertingthe risk of the users lingers being inadvertently pinched between the adjacent elements. I

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the safety-means comprise channels extending substantially throughout the length of the elements at the ends thereof, said channels being mounted in alternately reversed positions and so disposed relatively tothe rotational means that, duringr the rotational movement of any one element relatively to its adjacent element and throughout the full extent or amplitude of such movement, the outer edge or ange of the channel on each element will remain inside the channel of the adjacent element. f

Tol provide a clearer understanding of the invention, some exemplary embodiments thereof will now be described by way of indication and not of limitation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic perspective View of a sliding door according to the invention;

Fig. 2 -is a fragmentary View thereof in elevation;

Fig. 3 is a corresponding view in cross-section on line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a corresponding view in horizontal section on line IV-IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view on an enlarged scale showing the interconnecting 'means between the elements ofthe sliding door assembly and the guide means therefor; i

Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary detail views in horizontal section, showing the positions assumed by adjacent elements and their interconnecting means, respectively in a straight and an arcuate portion of the path;

Fig. 8 is a cross section of a modification, on line VIII--VIII of Fig. 9; f

Fig. 9 is a corresponding horizontal section on the lines lXa-I'Xa, lXb-IXb, IXe-IXe, -of Fig. 8,;

Fig. l0 is a perspective view,. on an enlargedy scale, of a detail of the construction shown. in lFigs. 8 and 9; and v Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 9 but relating to a further alternative. f

YAs shown in Figs. 1 to '7, a sliding door according to this invention comprises a series of adjacent elements each consisting `of a pair ofstrips l which may be made of rolled sheet metal, or any other suitable material, such as wood, with or i Without metal element aixed thereto. The strips l are secured two by two to spacer cross-members or braces 2, ,as by screws,- rivets, or other suitable connecting means to be supported thereby in boxlike relationship (cf.`Fig. 4). 1

'I'he strips I are shown as having one edge thereof bent to the form of.a polygonal flange. Alternatively however the flange might-be rolled to the form of a -arc with an. appropriate radius. Such an arrangement is eminently suitable for the provisionof a smooth surface of the kind required for example in connection with elevator-shaft sliding doors. For otherl purposes however, a diierent contour maybe selected for the strips l, e. g. they may be ribbed or formed to any other appropriate design. r

The spaced strips I comprising a common element are similar in length and are offset relatively to each other in the direction of thedoors motion, by a suitable distance to make allowance for the relative rotationy of the elements, as later described.v l l A vnumber of the spacerz (Fig. 5) are provided with hinge sockets 3 which constitute both the connecting and interpivoting means for the elements relatively to one another.

The hinge-pins 4 of the upper hinge assemblies are supported on the lugs 5 forming stops, and` receive bushings s at their tops, being pinned therein by means of vcotters 'l. 'The' vbushings 6 support rollers 8 horizontally journalled on arms 3 projecting upwardly therefrom, the rollers serving to support the door while allowing it to move as the rollers run on the runway 9 rigidly connected by the securing .members ,lll `to V4the wall n in ,the door is installed.

The hinge-pins 4 for the lower hinges, supported on the stop-lugs 5 receive the rollers-supporting bushings I'Z carrying the verticallyjournalled rollers I3 which project into a runway groove I4 formed in the floor to guide each element in its displacements. The rollers 8 and I3 are desirably provided with a suitable coating material, such as Nylon or-the Ylike effective tov impart a very smooth operation tothe sliding door.

It will be understood that the running rollers and the guiding rollers ,described above may be .reversedin position, vi, :the-bushings and rollers 6 and 8 and rails 9` may be arranged at -the bottorn ,Wlnle .the snide rollers with" their supports I2 and I3 and the .guide-way A4 would then be feroi/.iden on ion TInesloling .door inelnrles a sntelole .number of elements .I identical to ,those j ust described, n-

terpivoted by the .hinges. 3 The endelements l5 however are provided with a special arrange- ;Iuent .110W to be Ydescribed (see Figs. 2 .to .4). vThe .said end ,elements .I5 are tted with spacer mem .bers .I1 'which terminate, at the end remote from the hinge, inY an end flange bent Aback at right .angles ...to `.seal the space .between the ,strips and provide the end-wall of the door, ,and the Aend strip titself .also has a special configuration, in

,that it is formed with ,a bent flange I9 adapted to `overlap the .normally-.formed flange 2.o of

t .theepnoslte strip .2l .of .the pair- 1 ,instances where the sliding .door is .to be ,mechanically eetnated, .the ene .element v vhloh .is-to have shopper.. lng eahleetteohed to it may 'se .provided with .additional l.meer .roller 2t serving to reinforce ythe .point of xcable attachuhiehis `.the breeket or .the running rollers..

For this purpose, .the .rollers 'Z2- 2 6 may, as

Qslrovvln', be mounted en a ,eornrnon 'loreoket '2l .mounted on pins ,2B-ile `vvelded 4to the snaoer- The end element I5 thusin elect comprises three running rollers. It kwillbeunderstoo'l that with `this construction, `the end element I5 should not have ,to travel over an arcuate lportion of the Ypelin of. the sliding door in order to avoid :lern- Vming.

A remarkable feature rof the lsliding door desribed consists inthe fact thatit 'may be mounted in the opening of a flat wall in such a way that` .the surface ofthe door `is ush with the innersnrfeoe .of .the .welt enel that there Will be no break between the door and the wall other .thema narrow gentil., `3l (Figs 2 .and 3) respecf.tively Aat the Lopend bottom p f the door.

This feature is made possible owing to the factthat the rails 9 aremounted just above the `opening in the wall II andsupported Vfrom the y said wall (seejFig. 3), so that a vsubstantially Aunbroken smooth surface between the Wall and the .door may be cinternen.-

At ,the loottorn, .tile i1..nlorelfr.ein.surfeoe .between 4 the door and the wall is provided by the guide means itself, as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 and 7 illustrate the manner in which the ,elements of the ,slidinggdoondescnibelgare able to negotiate a curve. As s h9.W1l libe' ,Centre 39 of the hinge is so predetermined that the tip 40 of the flange of the element on the left rides within the recess 4I defined in the adjacentelement asr the last-mentioned element is rotated relatively to the other element in the direction of .the arrow ,4.2. The maximum amplitude of such relative rotation is defined by the angle 43 (Fig. 6) which is such that it brings the edge M into engageinent with the surface of the element I( At the same time, the opposite edge 45 is ,opened out on the other side of the door.

While a rotation in the reverse direction is possible, lt -Wll Joe .noted Figs- 6 .7 ,that 'the .Centre of thehinse does not l'eiin the @entre nlene of the elements., so ,tire anale 'of .rots- Lton of .the element,s larger towards .the slee nearest Yto the .said Y, eerrtre.: thirs ,the angle 143 fis greater than .tl-1e .angler se.. Conversely, :the minimum rediris-of .the ,nerves negotiable lov the elements is smaller. For example, thev case of .elements 200 mr n.,,1l length and 59 mm. thick, the minimum radius .of the curves practicable with the construction Vof Figs. 4 and G'is 100 mm. on the side of arrow 45 and l'7 5 min. on the side of arrow d'1. If the hinge centres were made to extend on the centre plane .oi the elements, the maximum angles of rotation of the elements would obviously be the rsaine either 'direct-ion, ,but the minimum radius of curvature achievable would necessarily `be greater than the smaller one of the two .above indicated values. Thus with .the semedimensons es above, theseid redius wouldbe The vabove discussion .will show howv the positionof theeentres of the hinges may be geometrically predetermined on the Y elements in order to provide a desired ,ref-lios ef oufvetllle towards each s ideof the door.

The sliding `.door eonstrnotion desoriloed `nossesses excellent characteristics of strength and aire tightness, owhg to the rigidity of its c omponent parts. Each boxshaped element may, lmoreover, be llegi with a suitable insulating, nre-proofing, o r other material. A further advantage of this construtionis that the door is easily manufactured without requiring special tooling, its component elenfien-ljs being readily producible with ,the usual machinery found in metal sheet-forming and lock-smiths shops. Moreover, the said components are interchangeable among sliding doors yof a given common height dimension, 'a considerable advantage in quantity production, as well as for maintenance andrepair. BeSides, the -fact that the strips I are identical, at least as far as the intermediate strips are concerned, makes for great facility in supply both llor Astock and forr production, thus lgreatly reducing the cost p rice.

In the modied constrduction s hown in Figs. 8 to 10, means are further provided to'prevent `the users ngers Yfrom being accidentally caught -in between adjacent interpivoted elements.

In zone exemplary embodiment of an improved sliding door according to this modication of the invention, illustrated in Figs. 8 to 10, the door is made upV of two sets of Apanels P1, P2 in alter.- nating relationship, only three of which are shown in Fig. 9. *Each --panel Pz consists of a plate 5I which may ube e. g. a Astamped .metal sheet or a strip of wood. The-plate .5I is formed or provided at each end with an arcuate flange 52 preferably metallic. A further plate 53 secured in parallel spaced relation to the plate 5I defines a box-like structure therewith and is formed with end flanges bent inwards in the shape of a concave or reentrant curve 54 followed by a fiat portion 55 followed in turn by a flange 55 bent outwards at right angles therefrom and secured as by welding or riveting to the plate 5I.

The complementary panel P1 comprises a plate 51, such as a metal stamping, strip of wood, or the like, provided at each end with a convex arcuate flange 53 greater in angular extent than the portion 52, and a furthervand similar plate 53 is secured in parallel spaced relationship with the plate 5l to provide a box-shaped structure therewith.

The above-described panels P1 and P2 are interpivoted in a manner generally similar to that described in connection with the previous embodiments of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to '7, through the medium of hinge assemblies illustrated in detail in Fig. 8. In the construction shown in that figure, the pivotal connection is provided by means of an upper supporting or carrier hinge structure A, an intermediate hinge structure B and a lower, guiding, hinge structure C.

The upper, carrier flange A (Fig.` comprises a rolled sheet or strip 59 secured to the plate 5I, a pivot pin 60 inserted thereinto, and a bushing 3l secured by a screw 32 to the strip 63 of the complementary panel 5|. The pivot 60 carries a supporting bracket 64 for a roller 65 running on a rail 66. The pin is retained in position by a ring el' pinned thereon with an interposed ball-thrust bearing 68.

The panel P1 is suspended from the rail 66 by a pair of carrier hinge structures similar to that just described, while the panels P2 are supported on the bushings 6|. The female part of the intermediate hinge B comprises a rolled strip 69 rigidly assembled to the complementary sheet 6l.

The lowermost, guiding, hinge C comprises a pin It formed at its lower end with a guide roller Il engaging a runway 12.

It will be noted that the supporting bracket of the carrier roller is rotatable with respect to the uppermost hinge assembly to enable the requisite pivoting and sliding movements in curves.

The operation of this sliding-door construction is similar to that previously described in connection with Figs. 1 to 7. However, during such operation, the anges of the overlapping elements remain substantially spaced by a constant distance, thus averting any danger of pinching ones ngers and similar mishaps. Moreover, the arrangement used for suspending the panels P1 including the carrier hinges A with the panels P2 provided with pivotal means such as the bushings 6l, which are supported rather than supporting elements, is advantageous in that any vertical play and/or excess thickness in the pivotal connections which may in some cases occur, will not be cumulative.

In a somewhat modied construction of the sliding door (Fig. 11) each panel P3 is identical with the adjacent panels, and acts as a supporting element on one side and a supported element on the other.

Such panel is made from a metal strip 13 having the configuration shown with an arcuate end flange 14 and a further strip 15 parallel spaced from the first and differing therefrom only in the greater extent of its arcuate end flange 16.

One (e. g. the right) edge of panel P3 is rigid with a rolled socket member 59 receiving the pivot pin Bil, while its other or left edge removably carries a bearing 6I inserted, prior to assembly, over the pin 6B of the adjacent panel.

It will be understood that the invention is in no way restricted to the details of embodiment illustrated and described, but extends its scope to cover any operative modifications in the Various constituent parts thereof. Thus, in particular the panels may be made from any suitable materials; the sliding door may be mounted for horizontal, vertical, or any desired angular clisplacement. Other modifications will appear to those familiar with the art within the scope of the ensuing claims.

What we claim is:

l. In a sliding door for use with a pair of parallel spaced guide-ways arcuate over at least part of their length, a plurality of like panels extending between said guide-ways, guide means carried by at least one end of at least some of said panels adapted to cooperate with at least one of said guide-ways, each of said panels comprising two spaced parallel faces and edge portions connecting said faces, hinge means including cooperating hinge members respectively carried by adjacent panels and pivotally interconnecting said panels in edge-to-edge relationship, said hinge means being disposed between the planes of opposite faces of the respective panels, a lateral extension on one face of each of said panels forming a smooth continuation of said face, a similar but oppositely directed lateral extension on the opposite face of the adjacent panel dening with the first mentioned extension and the corresponding edges of said panels a recess extending throughout the height of the panels, said hinge means being confined within said recesses, Said extensions having cooperating inwardly bent end portions extending into said recesses to prevent opening of said recesses and exposure of said hinge means during articulation of said panel structures as said sliding door is moved along said guide-ways.

2. The sliding door of claim 1 wherein the axis of said hinge means is positioned substantially mid-way between the inner faces of said lateral extensions of two adjacent panels.

3. The sliding door of claim 1 wherein said inwardly bent end portions of said lateral extensions of said panels have an arcuate shape coaxial with said adjacent hinge means.

4. The sliding door of claim l wherein said edges of said panels are at least partially in the form of a portion of a cylinder co-axial with said adjacent hinge means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,252,139 Schlacter Aug. 12, 1941 2,330,670 Black Sept. 28, 1943 2,391,845 Rowe Dec. 25, 1945 2,604,162 Hickling et al July 22, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 23,584 Great Britain Oct. 18, 1913 27,982 Great Britain Dec. 3, 1914 167,420 Switzerland May 1, 1934 519,179 Great Britain Mar. 19, 1940 

